Jawa West Reservoir — Wadi Rajil Basalt Dam System West Pool
Jawa west pool · Rajil west reservoir
Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze I (3500 – 3000 BCE)·Proto-urban pastoralist Jawa (Jordanian black desert)·🇯🇴 Mafraq Governorate, Jawa site, Wadi Rajil west branch basalt dam and reservoir pair, Jordan
About
About Jawa West Reservoir — Wadi Rajil Basalt Dam System West Pool
West reservoir of the 32 km Jawa basalt desert town's water system (Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze I, 3500–3000 BCE), the world's earliest large dam network: eastern Jebel Jawa basalt dams 80 m × 4.5 m with 9 reservoirs diverting winter wadi Wadi Rajil floods to store 31,000 m3 for 3,000 inhabitants without wells. West pool 20×25 m with basalt sluice. Excavated 1930 Glueck, 1970s Helms.
Why it mattersWest reservoir confirms Jawa had 9-pool system, not single dam; proves 4th-millennium desert urbanism without oasis
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Population 3k vs 600 debate (Homesick)
- 02Dam network vs slope catchment which primary
Theories
- 01Earliest urban water engineering pre-Uruk
- 02Pastoralist proto-city with hydraulic surplus thesis
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- 3500 BCE east dam; 3300 west pool; abandoned 3000
- Period
- Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze I (3500 – 3000 BCE)
- Culture
- Proto-urban pastoralist Jawa (Jordanian black desert)
- Purpose
- Wadi flood capture for copper-age desert city without groundwater
- Abandoned
- c.3000 BCE violent collapse / abandonment
- Excavation
- Unexcavated
3500 BCE
Eastern basalt dams divert Wadi Rajil
3300 BCE
West reservoir and town wall built
1931
Glueck aerial finds Jawa
On the ground
Structures & features
32.3400° N · 37.0200° E · 970 m · 3 mapped features
West Pool Sluice Gate
sluiceBasalt slab sluice 1.2 m wide with plaster seal intact
32.3403° N · 37.0203° ETown Wall Basalt Circuit
wall2.5 km basalt wall 2 m high with 8 bastions enclosing 10 ha
32.3398° N · 37.0196° EWadi Rajil Diversion Channel
channel80 m diversion channel upstream of west pool
32.3410° N · 37.0210° E
Gallery